Book One – Chapter 10

Suddenly, the silence shattered into whispers and laughter, distorted echoes of humanoid and high-pitched cackling. Midnight’s fur bristled as they materialised — two sprites, ethereal in form, flitted at the edge of her vision just as she reached the end of the tunnel. The path continued but was blocked by layers of large bones. The laughter swelled into a sing-song of overlapping voices.

    Wel-come, wel-come, _{yum-yum, yum-yum}

                    _{yum-yum, yum-yum,} ^{Wel-come, wel-come}

Midnight did not acknowledge them. Most sprites were malevolent, but some merely observed and mocked unless provoked. All sprites were dangerous.

She merged with the darkness to shift past the barrage of bones, when a blast of something surged through her, abruptly pushing her out of the darkness. Disturbed, Midnight found herself back in front of the barricaded path, now in her natural pathera form.

                                 Oh no, oh no, _{you cannot go}

                                               _{you cannot go,} ^{Oh no, oh no}

The sprites swirled into her path, now dense ethereal forms. One was dark green, and the other was a sickly, poisonous purple, both with grotesque humanoid figures, disproportionally large heads and even larger maws that gave them an unsettling appearance. They darted around Midnight with calculated mockery, surging through the air and slipping between her legs, their ephemeral bodies deliberately brushing against her ears and tail. Midnight’s senses were assaulted by a cacophony of eerie laughter, their high-pitched voices reverberating through the cavernous space.

Wel-come, wel-come, _{yum-yum, yum-yum}

We let you come,

We let you pass:

But if you want to go,

Tell us something we don’t know.

Midnight maintained her stoic composure. She bowed her head once, showing she understood.

What, no questions? You know, normally, people go like ‘Who are you?’

Or: ‘What are you?’

Very rude.

Or: ‘Help!’

Or: ‘Where do all these bones come from?’

Or: ‘How can I possibly know what you know and not know?’

‘Did anyone ever win this game?’

‘How is this fair?’

‘Oh no, oh please, I don’t want to die!’

Midnight stared.

Oh, and also, you know, if we know what you think we don’t know —

Yeah, if you don’t know what we don’t know —

If you think you know what we don’t know though we know all you know —

        Ꮤ𐌄
 Ꮤ𐌉𐌋𐌋 𐌄𐌀𐌕
   𐌙Ꝋ𐌵

And you know

there is no —

thing you can do about it.

Wel-come, wel-come, yum-yum, yum-yum

Just wanted you to know that.

Yes, that was one thing we know you didn’t know.

Now you can return the favour.

Yum-yum, yum-yum, fun-fun, fun-fun

Midnight stared.

Well, if you have no questions —

 then you have something we don’t know?

Midnight nodded once.

Pause.

Well, what is it?

What do you possibly know?

Midnight flicked her right ear.

Speak now.

What do you know?

Midnight flicked her ear again.

What?

Midnight flicked her ear again.

What is that supposed to mean?

Is that supposed to mean something?

No fun, no fun, this game is done —

Midnight flicked her hear again, with emphasis.

What is she doing?

Is that on purpose? Is she pointing? Is that talking?

I don’t know, I asked you! It’s irritating, that is!
 

There was quite a long pause.

Then they let her pass.

And then, to her annoyance, they followed her.